Apparatus for feeding sheets of paper



(No Model.) v

' F. C. THIBLSGHYER.

APPARATUS POR PEEDING SHEETS 0F PAPER'.

No.I 295,955. 'Patented'ApL 1`, 18:84.

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UNrTEn: STATES y PATENT OEE-ICE.

FREDERICK C. THIELSCHER, OF BOSTON, `MASSACHUSETTSl APPARATUS FoR FEEDING SHEETS oF PAPER.

y SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N o. 295,955, dated April 1, 1884.

" soHER, of Boston, county of Suffolk, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Apparatus for Feeding Sheets of Paper, of which the following description, in connection `with the accompanying drawings, is a. speciiication, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention has for its object the production of an efficient apparatus by which to automatically feed sheets of paper singly from a pile to another place where it is desired to use them, and is especially adapted to automatically place thin sheets of paper between printed cards or sheets as delivered from a lithographie press of usual construction; but

it will be understood that my mechanism may be used in other places and for other pur# poses-as, for instance, to feed sheets of paper to a press.

`The apparatus to be herein described may be divided into three parts-viz.,`mechanism for supporting the pile of sheets, picking-up `mechanism to lift sheets singly, and feeding mechanism to take each sheet from the pickingup mechanism, carry the same forward, and discharge or drop it. The supporting mechanism for the pile of sheets consists of a bed on which the pile of sheets rests, means to raise and lower the bed as each 1 sheet is picked up, and means to adjust the bed automatically to the decreasing thickness of the pile of sheets. The picking-up mechanism includes two or more suction-tubes connected by suitable pipes with a suitable exhaust-ch amy ber or air-pump, and avalve between the suction-tubes and exhaust-chamber or air-pump,

to permit the top sheet of the pile to be retained in contactwith or to beheld by the tubes, as may be desired.- The feeding mechanism includes two pairs of nippers-one for each edge of the sheet near its leading enda` carriage to Vmove the nippers forward, and means to open and close the nippers so that they grasp and release each sheet at the proper times. W'hen the carriagearrives at itsforward position, the nippers are opened automatically to discharge the sheet held by them, and they arethen. locked and held open as the carriage is moved back, during which times the supporting -table for the pile of Application filed February 13, 1883. (No model.) Y

sheets is raised to place the uppermost sheet of the pile against the ends of the suctiontubes of the pickingup mechanism, and the valve between the said tubes and the exhaustchamber or air-pump is then opened, causing the uppermost sheet to adhere to the said tubes, from which the air is then exhausted,

and the table and pile of sheets descend, leaving the sheet held by the tubes. The open nippers, in their backwardtravel, pass over the end of the sheet thus held by the tubes of the pickingup mechanism above the pile of sheets, and, having reached a position opposite the said tubes, are closed upon the opposite edges of the sheetV of paper held by the tubes, and the valve between the tubes and the exhausted receiver or air-pump is then closed, so that the tubes ceaseto hold the sheet. The nippers, having been closed upon the sheet, are moved forward, and, reaching their forward position, are openedautomatieally to discharge the sheet held by them on a suitable table, or on another sheet at the top of a pile of sheets. If Amy apparatus is to be employed toplace thin sheets of paper in succession between printed sheets or `cards as they are delivered from a lithographie or other press, the apparatus will be located at the rear side of the said press, soV that the nippers may travel forward over the delivery-tableof the said press.

Figure l represents `in side elevation a paper feeding apparatus embodying my invention, the'nippers being open, the dotted lines under the nippers being intended to represent the delivery bed or table at the rear of f a lithographie press of usual construction.

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of Fig. l. Fig. 3

'is a detail, in side elevation of the mechanism instrumental in moving the papersupporting table; Fig. 4, a section of Fig. 3 on thedotted liner; Fig. 5, a section of Fig. 4 on the dotted line x2; Fig. 6, a detail of the nippercarrying rods, and means to move them to open the nipper. Fig. 7 is a detail to be referred to; Fig. 8, a plan view of one member of the nippers, to be referred to; and Fig. 9, a section on line w3, Fig. 1, `of the latch for holding the nippers open after they have delivered a sheet until the proper time for them to close upon a succeeding sheet to be fed.

The frame-work A, of suitable shape to sus- IOO tain the workingparts, has a main shaft, B, provided, as herein shown, with a crank, C, a disk, bw, provided with a cam, bm, and a cam, ai. The table L (shown in dotted lines only in Figi) is supposed to be the deliverytable of a lithographie press, and each printed sheet delivered thereon must be separated from a succeeding one by a thinner sheet, to obviate blurring, die. The sheet-supporting mechanism is composed of abed, a, having a threaded stem, a, acted upon by a worm-gear, a2, in turn rotated by a worm, as. The worm-gear a2 and worm a3 are both mounted so as to turn in a bracket, a?, attached to the under side of a plate, 0,5, pivoted at as, and having a leg,a7, provided with a roller, as, acted upon by the cam a on the main shaft B. 'Ihe worm a has connected with it a friction-disk, b, which is acted upon and rotated intermittingly by a friction-pawl, b2, attached to a pawlcarrier, b3, mounted on the journal of the said worin. The pawl is made to move 'the friction-wheel at each descent of the plate a5, it then striking the adj usting-screw b4. The screw b4 may be so adjusted as to cause the bed c to be raised to maintain the uppermost sheet of the pile of sheets at a certain level, so that as the bed is raised to force the said sheet againstv the lower ends of the suction-tubes b of the picking device there may always be a uniformity of action, notwithstanding the variation in the height of the pile of sheets. The bed a will have at its sides and ends suitable projections, guards, or pins,10 12, to prevent the escape ofthe sheets of paper, except when lifted by the picking-up mechanism.

Instead of theparticularineans herein shown to adjust the position of the bed a vertically, and the said pins l0 12, I may use any other well-known and equivalent devices common to envelope-machines; and instead of raising the plate c5 and the pile of sheets as each sheet is to be held by the picking-up mechanism, I desire it to be understood that the plate a5 may be stationary and tubes bu of the picking-up mechanism may be raised and lowered, as in envelope-feeding machines, where the blanks are picked up by suction. The picking-up mechanism is composed, essentially, of the tubes 116, before referred to, they having preferably india-rubber mouth-pieces at their lower ends, and being connected with a pipe, b, the open end of which terminates in a valvebox, bs, having a valve, b9, the lower end of the said valve-box being connected by suitable pipes with any suitable vacuum-chamber or exhausting device, so that when the valve b9 is drawn out in the direction of the arrow on its stem in Fig. l air will be drawn into the tubes b in the direction of the arrow, causing them to adhere to the top sheet of the pile of sheets of paper, which top sheet has been lifted against the lower ends of the tubes by the supporting-table a, before referred to. The valve bJ is operated in one-direction by a lever, bw, acted upon by the cam 1112 on the disk b1,

and iii the opposite direction by the spring 11M, the spring closing the valve immediately after the nippers, to be described, have grasped the sheet of paper picked up and held by the tubes, so that the draft of air no longer acts to hold the sheet. The nippers are composed of the upper members, c, and lower members, c.

The nippers at each side of the machine being alike, I need specifically describe but one of them, which I will now do. The upper member, c, is connected with a rigid arm attached to a slide-rod, c3, connected with an upright, 0*, adjustably attached by a screw, c", with a cross-bar of an adjustable carriage, c6, having slide-bars which are fitted to guideways c7. (Shown in Fig. 2.) rIhe carriage c6 is connected by link E and bolt D with the crank C, attached to the main shaft B, and as thesaid shaft is rotated the carriage and its rods and connected nippers are reciprocated backward and forward. The rod c3 is eX- tended through a guide, c, made adjustable toward and from the center of the machine in bearings o8. In order to adapt the rods c3 and their nippers to different widths of sheets of paper to be delivered, the rod c3 has hangers c cl", adj ustably` connected thereto by screws 3, and a hanger, cm, fast thereon at its forward end. These hangers receive and form bearings for the nipper-rocking rod d, upon the forward end of which is fixed the nipper member c.

The nipper-carrying rod d has placed about it a spiral spring, d', one end of which is connected with the hanger c, and the other with an adjustable collar, d2, Xed upon the rod d, the said spring acting normally to move the nipper member c in the arc of a circle toward the Xed nipper 0. The rod d also carries a collar, d, provided with a pin, di, which, as the rod is moved in the direction of the arrow on it, strikes the inclined plate d5, fixed with relation to the frame-work A, and causes the nipper member c to be turned down away from the nipper member c when it is desired to discharge from between the nippers the sheet of paper held by them. rIhe pin dL will usually be provided with a friction-roller. When the nippers are so opened, the latch e', or holder for the lower nipperfd, enters a f notch in a collar, e, fast upon the rod d, and

thereafter the nippers are held open or separated until in the backward movement of the rods c3 d the end of the latch strikes the end of the latch-opener e2, fixed with relation to the carriage, when the latch is lifted, permitting the spring d to turn the rod cl and close the nipper member c upon the under lside of the sheet of paper and against the stationary nipper c, the said nippers then occupying a position at the side of one of the tubes b of the picking-up mechanism.

As described, it will be noticed that the nippers are closed at the proper times to grasp lthe sheet held by the tubes of the picking-up IOO IIO

Adevice, are then moved forward, and on ari rlvingin proper position are opened automatically to discharge the sheet held by them, and areheld open while being moved backward in positionover the edges of a succeeding sheet picked up by the tubes and held lifted above `the pileof sheets, ready to be delivered to the i p inippers and carried forward by them.

` Yengage a sheetof paper.

I do not broadly claim suction-tubes to pick up a sheet, nor doI broadly claim a nipper to The rear end of the nipper member c is provided with an upwardly-turned lip, c2, as shown in Figs. l and 1 1. S, to enable it to pass above the end of the sheet held bythe suction-tubes.

I claim- 1. In a paper-feeding machine, the bed a, to

` support sheets of paper in a pile, the plate a5,

` by which itis carried, and means, substantially as described, to lift the said plate and" bed, combined with the suction-tubes to pick` `up and hold the sheets, one by one, from the pile, the two pairs of nippers arranged at opposite sidesof the bed, means, as specified, to actuate said nippers to engage the side edges of the lifted sheet held by the suction-tube,

andmeans, as set forth, to reciprocate said i nippers and their actuating devices to convey such sheet to the place of deposit-.and return for another sheet, substantiallyas shown and described.

2. rIhe nipper member c and the slide-rod and its attached hangers, combined `with the rocking rod and its connected nipper member c', substantially as described.

3. The nipper member c, its slide-rod, the

` attached hangers, the rod d, supported in said hangers, and the nipper member c on said `1 1 j y rocking rod, combined with the pin or pro- 1` i 40 jection d* and a stationary incline with which in the reciprocation of the slide-rod the projection comes in contact to ilock the rod d to K open the nippers; substantially as described.

4. The nipper member o, its slide-rod, the

' attached hangers, the rod d, supported in said hangers, and the nipper member c on said rocking rod, combined with the pin or projection df, a stationary incline with which in the reciprocation of the slide-rod the projection comes in contact to rock the rod dto open the nippers, and the spring d', connecting the rod d and one of the hangers, to automatically and normally close the nippers, substantially as described.

5. The combination, substantially as shown and described, of the rod c3, rocking rod d,

and nipper members c c', with the notched collar e and latch e.

6. Thecombina'tion, substantially as shown and described, ofthesliding rod c3, the connected rocking rod d, and the nipper members c c', with the notched collar e, latch e', and latch-openere?, as and for the purpose described. i i 7. Two pairs of rods, cpand d, and connected nipper members c c', combined with adj ustable guides in whichthe said rods are reciprocated, to permit the nippers to be adjusted to adapt them to sheets of paper of different widths, substantially as described.

8. `The slide-rods c* and d and nippers c c', combined with a reciprocating carriage for moving the saidy rods, and withmeans, substantially as described, for rocking the rod d to open and close the said nippers, as set forth.

9. The bed c, the plate a5, by which it is carried, and means, substantially as described,

to lift the said plate and bed, combined with the suction-tubes and two c c', to operate as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to thisspecification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.`

FREDERICK C. THIELSOHER; Witnesses:

Jos. P. LIVERMORE, FRED A. POWELL.

pairs of nippers, 

